Rare calf triplets born in one month at Ellington farm

Two sets of healthy heifers born in one month at Oak Ridge Farm in Ellington. The chances of one set are about 1 in 700,000. (WFSB)

ELLINGTON, CT (WFSB) -

Two sets of calf triplets were born at a dairy farm in Ellington recently.

Oakridge farm in Ellington is the biggest dairy farm in Connecticut.

"My family came from Illinois, Indiana and bought this place in 1896," Glenn Bahler, of Oakridge Farm, said. The farm, which is home to nearly 2,000 cows on 1,600 acres of Ellington land has been in the Bahler family for five generations.

But just when they thought they've seen it all...

"Yeah, it's really cool. We've never seen it before," Seth Bahler, of Oakridge Farm, said after two sets of triplets, all heifers, were born without any complications, all within the same month.

"To actually have three females born together at the same time that is all normal and all living has never happened to our knowledge before. To have it twice is very rare," Glenn Bahler, of Oakridge Farm, said.

The last time the family remembers having triplets on the farm was back in 1957. A farmhand said his father was in the same business in Mexico for many years only saw one set 37 years ago.

"I called and I said I saw two groups of triplets...He said "Oh wow, you're very lucky to see [this]" Alexander Ancira, of Oakridge Farm, said.

The farm will DNA test on the newborns to see if they are actually identical. They do know that the studly bull who they artificially inseminated the cows is the same.

"We'll be able to tell by the genomic testing and by their DNA if they are indeed identical or from different eggs. That's pretty amazing. It is amazing," Bahler said.

The farm said the little ladies do not have names yet, but on October 28, the public is invited in the afternoon to help with the process.